The end of the year brings much excitement and joy, and I’m not just talking about the holiday season. What energizes me about this time of the year is the enthusiastic El Pasoans sending off their college applications in anticipation of starting the next chapter in their professional lives. However, we need to do more as a community to increase the number of students who apply for and attend college.

It is never too early to start setting high expectations for our children’s educational attainment and asking them: where are you going to college? In fact, the earlier a family embraces a college-going mindset, the better. And it will pay dividends in the long run.

Many grandparents and even parents, were once able to find a secure, reasonably well-paying job with nothing more than a high school diploma, but those days are gone. Today, the more you learn, the more you earn.

By 2020, 65 percent of all new jobs will require post-secondary degrees or certificates. At the same time, El Paso’s young adults will compete with peers from Los Angeles, Austin, San Antonio, and many other cities for professional opportunities, and El Paso itself will be competing to attract businesses looking for a skilled, educated workforce.

We need a plan to ensure El Paso’s students don’t fall behind and actually obtain postsecondary degrees and certificates.

Thankfully, members of El Paso’s business and education communities are coordinating to ensure that today’s students graduate from high school prepared for more advanced studies, and that those studies provide access to job opportunities and increased economic mobility.

In particular, I want to recognize Woody Hunt for his efforts to foster innovation and collaboration in our schools. He chaired the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s 60x30 Texas plan, which set the ambitious goal that 60 percent of Texas’ young people will hold a certificate or degree by 2030. Then he galvanized the local business community to understand what it would take to see El Paso reach the same goal. The resulting 60x30 El Paso report, released by the Council for Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development (CREEED), told us that El Paso must rapidly and exponentially increase the number of students who graduate high school ready to attend college and who actually complete a college degree program.

Mr. Hunt also awarded a grant of $12 million to advance efforts in the region that get us to the 60 percent attainment goal.

EPCC’s mission is to provide accessible, quality and affordable education that prepares students for academic, professional and personal growth and advance our regional workforce. We are committed to creating a college going culture in our community and have started to talk to young students about the importance of college through our “college begins in kindergarten” school adoption program.

EPCC is providing an accelerated path to college with our Dual Credit and Early College High School programs. Dual credit allows students to take college courses in high school and has made college accessible to even more students. Data shows that students who took even just one college course in high school have a greater likelihood of success in future college work.

I’m proud to share the success we are having in our Early College High School programs, which allows students to receive both a high school diploma and a 2-year certificate from EPCC at the same time. More than 74 percent of EPCC Early College High School students complete an Associate’s Degree compared to the national average of only 24 percent.

EPCC realizes that partnerships and collaborations are key to increasing our regional educational attainment levels and that is why we want to be a partner in creating viable solutions. We invite the community to do the same. As college application season is upon us, let’s reflect on the role we play in helping students answer that important question: where are you going to college?